1. Field
The following description relates to a technique of measuring characteristics of a radio relay channel, and more particularly, to an operation of an apparatus for measuring characteristics of a radio relay channel and a processing measurement timing signal of the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent developments in technology for maximizing the transmission capacity in mobile communication have tended toward combining the transmit diversity and multiuser diversity or cooperative communications.
In particular, a cooperative mobile communication technique using a relay station (RS) is a candidate technique for a next generation mobile communication system and is regarded as capable of substantially improving the transmission capacity in wireless transmission by use of an RS between a base station (BS) and a mobile station (MS) and virtual multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology.
In the Cooperative Mobile Communication using an RS, the RS serves to eliminate a shadow region and extend a cell coverage and also optimize the transmission quality of data to be transmitted to the MS in cooperation with the BS.
Such a wireless transmission technology is achieved by applying a MIMO system using multiple antennas, and delivers a performance depending on spatial characteristics of a time variant MIMO channel. That is, since the system using multiples antenna is more susceptible to the characteristics of a radio relay channel than a conventional single antenna system would, it is very important to precisely recognize characteristics of the radio relay channel when designing the multiple antenna system.
In general, the next generation wireless communication system using multiple antennas is used in urban areas having buildings and trees, which give significant influence wave propagation. In addition, the wireless communication system is used for wireless high speed data transmission indoors.
In particular, in developing a next generation mobile communication system such as the IMT-Advanced system, propagation characteristics of a spatial channel including multiple antennas within a wireless interface need to be analyzed and mathematically modeled. The characteristics of the radio relay channel vary depending on frequency band, geographical features, climate, etc. Accordingly, in order to perform reliable modeling for the radio relay channel, the radio relay channel needs to be measured in various environments and accurate measurement data for the radio relay channel needs to be obtained and analyzed.